With great weather year-round and a burgeoning tech scene, Austin is one of the fastest-growing areas for startups. The city is also home to the University of Texas, where students flood the market each year with exceptional talent.
Whether you’re looking to find startup jobs, invest in a technology company, or launch a startup of your own, this vibrant startup ecosystem offers a wealth of opportunities. From a tech company leveraging artificial intelligence to a software company developing a human risk management solution, these are the best Austin startups on the scene.
Best Startups in Austin to Follow
Every year, new startups pull to the forefront of their industry through exciting innovation, tech, and industry-disrupting business models. We’ve rounded up the top Austin startups of 2024 that startup lovers, investors, and aspiring entrepreneurs should follow.
Disclaimer: With so many exciting Austin Texas startups launching and growing, we aren’t able to cover them all. Furthermore, the startups that are listed below are not officially ranked and are listed in no particular order.
1. Fox Robotics
- Industry: Logistics Tech
- Founders: Charles DuHadway, Peter Anderson-Sprecher
- Founded In: 2018
- Funding: Series Unknown, $33 Million
- Investors Include: Eniac Ventures, AME Cloud Ventures
Fox Robotics is upgrading the logistics industry by automating forklifts that specialize in trailer unloading. The robotic forklifts are able to be installed in under an hour and can unload a trailer at 25 pallets per hour. There is no IT or WMS integration required for the machine-learning tools. A single operator can work with several trailers allowing them to unload anywhere from 20-100 trailers per shift.
2. Hifive (Formerly CoSell)
- Industry: Networking
- Founders: Andrew Burleson, Brendon Cassidy, Pete Ryan
- Founded In: 2021
- Funding: Pre-Seed, $2 Million
- Investors Include: PivotNorth Ventures
Hifive is a platform for GTM leaders and entire organizations who want to build relationship-driven growth in sales and revenue. Leaders are able to get introductions incredibly easily by matching on the platform with other like-minded business people. It works similarly to a dating app but for professional networking. HiFive matches contacts that match your teammate’s target accounts and sends the information to you. You can then confirm the meetings you’d like to set up in the app.
3. FreeWater
- Industry: Social, Food & Beverage
- Founders: Josh Cliffords
- Founded In: 2020
- Funding: Self-funded, $270,000
FreeWater is a social startup with a disruptive concept, all of their products are free. Through advertising on their paper water bottles, FreeWater is able to live up to its name and give back to charity without charging a dime for their products.
4. Lendflow
- Industry: Fintech
- Founders: Jon Fry, Matthew Watts
- Founded In: 2019
- Funding: Series A, $13.5 Million
- Investors Include: Navitas Capital, Hack VC
Lendflow is developing tools that developers are able to use to embed credit products directly into their platforms. Lendflow is automating the entire experience, including applications, decision-making, and underwriting. All types of companies are utilizing the tools, including leading fintechs, lenders, and vertical SaaS companies. Users are able to customize their own decision workflows to aggregate and analyze their critical data points.
5. Diligent Robotics
- Industry: Healthtech
- Founders: Andrea Thomaz, Vivian Chu
- Founded In: 2017
- Funding: Venture, $71.6 Million
- Investors Include: Boom Capital, DNX Ventures
The hospital industry has been overwhelmed in recent years and Diligent Robotics is solving the issue by developing a full-size robotic companion to support and empower patient care teams. The robots are there to support and work with clinical teams to make their jobs easier. They can fetch items for patients, help with hospital-wide delivery tasks, and improve nurse response times. Moxi is the name of the robot model and should reduce nurse routine task time by up to 30%.
6. Hearth
- Industry: Fintech, Financial Services
- Founders: Anthony Ghosn, Joe Lonsdale, Joe Lonsdale
- Founded In: 2016
- Funding: Series B, $47.8 Million
- Investors Include: 8VC, The Chainsmokers
Home improvement professionals aren’t normally at the cutting edge of technology, but Hearth is looking to change the trend. The company is an all-in-one software solution that helps pros sell faster and win more projects. Using the platform, professionals are able to create invoices and estimates easily. They are also able to offer customer financing, 0% intro APR credit cards, modify contracts, collect digital payments, and market their business.
7. Osano
- Industry: SaaS, Compliance
- Founders: Arlo Gilbert, Scott Hertel
- Founded In: 2018
- Funding: Series B, $44.4 Million
- Investors Include: LiveOak Venture Partners, Jump Capital
Companies that have grown in size and are focused on compliance can look to Osano for help. The company develops a suite of tools that aid businesses in data privacy compliance and following regulations such as the GDPR and CCPA. Osano helps companies prevent large fines and penalties from non-compliance, and if a company is at fault for a fine, Osano will pay it. Clients will also be able to assess their vendor risk and personal data transfers using the software.
8. Royal
- Industry: Blockchain, NFTs
- Founders: JD Ross, Justin David Blau
- Founded In: 2021
- Funding: Series A, $71 Million
- Investors Include: Connect Ventures, Cosmic Venture Partner
The music company can be lucrative, but it hasn’t seen much innovation until Royal. The company is using NFT technology to allow ownership of songs. On the platform, musicians share a portion of streaming royalty rights with fans and collectors. When listeners invest in rights, they can generate income and collect other awards provided for by the artists. The platform engages fans to become part of the music by taking ownership of the music.
9. UpEquity
- Industry: Real Estate, Financial Services
- Founders: Louis Wilson, Tim Herman
- Founded In: 2019
- Funding: Debt Financing, $76.7 Million
- Investors Include: Alumni Ventures, Next Coast Ventures
UpEquity is helping homeowners and buyers but focuses on the mortgage process. The platform wants to give every person the opportunity to make a competitive and winning offer on any home they want. People are able to buy homes before selling, buy a new home, or even refinance their homes. All cash offers are possible using UpEquity, and there are no hidden fees or added costs.
10. Steadily
- Industry: Insurtech
- Founders: Darren Nix, Datha Santomieri, David Tulig
- Founded In: 2020
- Funding: Series B, $54.9 Million
- Investors Include: Zigg Capital, Nine Four Ventures
Steadily makes the process of obtaining landlord insurance for rental properties incredibly easy. Any individual looking to rent their homes to others can enjoy fire and water damage protection, financial protection against natural disasters, protection for furnishing, and legal liability protection. The insurance covers multiple property types like apartment buildings, single-family homes, and condo units.
11. Cart.com
- Industry: Software, Logistics
- Founders: Ed Sturrock, Jim Jacobsen, Omair Tariq
- Founded In: 2020
- Funding: Series C, $443 Million
- Investors Include: TriplePoint Capital, Citi Ventures
Cart.com has committed its brand to helping the growth and success of ecommerce retail worldwide. The company uses its abundance of expertise and tools to help brands outsmart, outperform, and outpace their competition. Storefronts, growth marketing, channel management, fulfillment, customer engagement, and unified analytics are all possible using Cart.com. The company has over 2,000 social media and shopping channels to optimize listings.
12. LoudCrowd
- Industry: Martech
- Founders: Gary Garofalo, Justin Papermaster
- Founded In: 2019
- Funding: Series A, $9.2 Million
- Investors Include: LiveOak Venture Partners, Active Capital
LoudCrowd looks to take advantage of the influencer economy by creating incentives for customers, brand ambassadors, employees, or brand advocates. The platform helps companies scale their ambassador programs, automate outreach to different channels, and reduce overspend on influencers. Once a customer or employee creates social content, they can be automatically rewarded for doing so.
13. Immersed
- Industry: Information Technology
- Founders: Renji Bijoy
- Founded In: 2017
- Funding: Equity Crowdfunding, $12.1 Million
- Investors Include: Bay Wharf Capital, Sovereign’s Capital
Immersed is taking company communication and productivity to another level with their VR solution to work smarter and faster. The company’s solutions help people get completely involved in their workspace without distractions. The headsets are able to be used from anywhere, so employees can check in on progress no matter where they are. There are a total of five virtual monitors that can be spawned from the computer into the VR without any additional hardware.
14. Strangeworks
- Industry: Quantum Computing, Software
- Founders: David Cardona, Justin Youens, William Hurley
- Founded In: 2018
- Funding: Series A, $28 Million
- Investors Include: IBM, Raytheon
Strangeworks is a tech company making quantum computing more accessible through its innovative software. Used by IBM, AWS, and Hitachi, Strangeworks is a trusted name in quantum computing solutions, making it simplified, efficient, and cost-effective.
15. Virdee
- Industry: Hospitality Tech
- Founders: Branigan Mulcahy, Nadav Cornberg
- Founded In: 2020
- Funding: Series A, $21.4 Million
- Investors Include: Alumni Ventures, LiveOak Venture Partners
Virdee is taking advantage of the trend of touchless interactions and making it possible for all concierge services to go virtual. Everything from check-in to check-out can be handled using the Virdee app. The app includes mobile key management, payment, ID checks, and remote assistance. As a result, guests have access to all amenities right from their fingertips, and properties can save on labor costs and reduce customer check-in time.
16. ClosedLoop
- Industry: Medical Tech
- Founders: Andrew Eye, Dave DeCaprio
- Founded In: 2017
- Funding: Venture, $49.1 Million
- Investors Include: Greycroft, Telstra Ventures
ClosedLoop is taking the power of AI and using it to give providers, payers, and care organizations the ability to make accurate, explainable, and actionable predictions of health risks for individuals. The platform is trying to prevent serious health events by creating better treatment, diagnoses, and interventions. The platform enables health care providers to maximize their AI/ML impact by tackling them simultaneously.
17. Outdoorsy
- Industry: Marketplace
- Founders: Jeff Cavins, Jennifer Young, Ryan Quinn, Tyler Stillwater
- Founded In: 2014
- Funding: Series D, $195.1 Million
- Investors Include: SiriusPoint, Moore Strategic Ventures
Outdoorsy is a digital marketplace for peers to list and rent recreational vehicles (RVs). Available in several markets across the United States, from Los Angeles to Chicago to Nashville, Outdoorsy makes renting RVs safe and easy.
18. Living Security
- Industry: Cybersecurity
- Founders: Ashley Rose, Drew Rose
- Founded In: 2017
- Funding: Series B, $20.3 Million
- Investors Include: Updata Partners, Rain Capital
Living Security bills itself as a human risk management solution. Their software solution empowers companies to view risky behavior online made by employees, allowing them to take action to train employees and enact security measures before it’s too late.
19. DISCO
- Industry: Artificial Intelligence, Legal Tech
- Founders: Gabe Krambs, Kent Radford, Kiwi Camara
- Founded In: 2012
- Funding: Debt Financing, $233.6 Million
- Investors Include: Bessemer Ventures Partners, Comerica Incorporated
DISCO is a legal tech company leveraging artificial intelligence to help attorneys and legal teams improve results from their services. From government agencies to small law firms, DISCO is a top solution for the improvement of legal outcomes, reducing errors, and automating processes.
20. Season Health
- Industry: Wellness, Food and Beverage
- Founders: Josh Hix, Joshua Wolff, Mustafa Shabib
- Founded In: 2019
- Funding: Series A, $36.6 Million
- Investors Include: Andreessen Horowitz, Healthy Ventures
Season Health is a food recommendation platform powered by technology rooted in expert insights to provide personalized nutrition advice. The platform bills health insurance companies to provide roughly 95% of their clients with free dietitian appointments.
Final Thoughts
It’s no secret that Austin, TX, is home to exciting, innovative tech companies. Austin startups are quickly drawing the attention of startup workers, investors, and the rest of the global startup ecosystem. From enterprise platform startups to companies disrupting the construction industry, this startup scene is an explosive area boasting impressively innovative startups and founders alike.
FAQs
Is Austin good for startups?
Referred to as a “mini Silicon Valley,” Austin has a burgeoning tech scene that employs over 175,000 people. Some top companies have built facilities in the area, including Tesla and Google. The city also is home to the University of Texas which produces top talent year after year.
How many startups are in Austin, Texas?
There are around 5,500 startups in the city of Austin. This number represents about 3% of the total job market in the metropolitan city. The numbers are currently rising with a large increase in opportunity and corporate presence.
What are some popular startup industries in Austin?
Some popular startup industries in Austin include technology, health care, and ecommerce. Austin’s lax tax laws have resulted in a number of startups in the tech industry, while the city’s large medical community has led to a number of healthcare startups. Additionally, Austin is home to a number of ecommerce startups due to the city’s well-developed retail sector.